Regeneration
by Dajun - Shinespark
Summary: The Doctor has never been so vulnerable. After being mortally wounded, he is forced to regenerate...but into what? He has no control over his new appearance nor his personalities but now his memories? Can a certain exassisant help him through this?
1. Prolouge

**Regeneration**

Out of the seemingly endless void that was space came a sign, the first of many. At first, no one noticed, it was just yet another tiny, insignificant twinkle amongst an ocean of planets, stars, and galaxies. It was nothing to worry about.

And yet on the second day, it came again, brighter this time and with a different, less recognisable shape. But like the day before, no one saw nor thought about it with any indifference. Perhaps amongst the billions of inhabitants that made up Terra, a handful of scientists took the time to give it a second glance, but that was it, a glance. No more…

But again and again it came, one day, two days, three days, four, five, it came everyday for the next two weeks, and each time it became brighter and closer than the day before. But for a civilization as old and advanced as the Terrians, none had the time for such anomalies; leave it for the scientists, they all thought, people who actually cared about these fancy if not boring bits and bobs within this marvellously empty void known as the Universe. Let them worry and loose their sleep over this mysterious object whilst the rest of us get on with their tasks and routines, things that are actually worth to be worried about. And so the people of Terra carried on with their lives, whilst the scientists and intellectuals studied the shape, trajectory, and indeed origin of this celestial body with minimal interest, because like all who lived on Terra their motto was simple: If it won't improve us, it's not worth bothering…

By the third week though, things began to change… Terrians have spent the best part of their history exploring the galaxies and worlds beyond their own. They have seen so much, it was said, that they believe they have seen it all, the past, the present, the future, everything. But they didn't see this. Not this. The object has now reached a dangerously low altitude, flying so close to the atmosphere that a glowing blue trail has began to form on its rear during the end of the third week. All of a sudden, the citizens became alert; non-essential personnel were ordered to take shelter whilst military organizations began to set up their various weapons and defence mechanisms, prepared for either a natural disaster, or perhaps a hostile invasion.

"But we are safe," The chancellor of the planet had assured her citizens, "Our shields are designed to withstand a category ten meteor shower and our weapons are the most advanced within this sector of the galaxy. I assure you, nothing can harm us. Nothing."

But by the fourth week of the so-called 'invasion', even the optimistic chancellor had begun to doubt her words. According to the sensors, the object's velocity has increased and its trajectory has been altered, specifically more acute as it skipped and took its time to pass through the Terrian shields with minimal damage. Within seconds, the republic of Terra called out a planet wide alert: an unknown object, possibly hostile, has infiltrated Terra. From across the entire globe, ion cannons, argon blasters, heat rays and just about any type of surface to air weapons one could think of has opened fire in a vain attempt to shoot down the object. For the few of the citizens who dared to climb to the surface for a better view, they had their first look at the mysterious object: a blue box, a box of unknown, possibly alien origin, with small windows and a flashing light on its roof was crashing down amongst the industrial buildings of the planet. A strange scrapping sound followed as it gained once again in speed, one would have heard a sonic boom as it broke the sound barrier except the scrapping was too loud, and it covered everything. The Terrians covered their eyes whilst the cannons continued their barrage against the blue box but to no avail, it was coming down too fast.

But as though the Creator himself was playing a massive joke, it vanished. From across the planet, sensors indicated that the box simply disappeared. No reports came from any of the gun batteries to suggest that perhaps it was destroyed by a lucky shot; neither did the radiation sensors report any signs that it simply vaporized because of the heat. It just disappeared.

And whilst the people of Terra began to crawl out of their shelters and recovered from the shock of a possible attack, from about ten miles away from the city centre on the eastern continent, a strange man stepped out of a blue police box with a massive smile on his face.

"Finally!" He exclaimed and took a deep breath, "Barcelona!"


	2. Painful Memories

Author's notes: Whoa! This fic has gained nearly as much reviews in one day as my other one did in a whole year! Ooooh I have nice feeling about this… 

Reply to reviews:

**PeridotNox:** Good to see that you're still reading my fics, it's sort of like a fresh start in my head whilst I try to save my muse on the other one. Anyway, I don't know what you would think about some of the later chapters 'cus there's a good chance that I might turn evil and cause some serious upsets in this story…

**Vila Restal:** Thanks for the review but what's Buck Rogers?

**Emela:** You just wait… ; )

**tashie1010: **I just couldn't resist that ending, I just had to say something about good old Barcelona LOL.

**Chapter 1: Painful Memories**

From across the gloomy corridor, Martha Jones came strolling with her head down. She was feeling slightly bored, to put it mildly and was beginning to wonder exactly why she chose this job in the first place.

It's been a year since she has last seen the Doctor, a year since she should've forgotten him. And yet there he was, amongst the thousands of people trying to get to work and failing to get some sort of enjoyment out of their daily lives, there he stood everyday for the past year within Martha's mind and he has done nothing but smiled at her.

"I don't need your smiles anymore," She kept reminding herself, "There are people here who need me, people who need a real doctor and I can't just abandon them because of my feelings towards you." And yet as she continued to find something to do within the virtually endless corridor, she was beginning to once again doubt her actions. The aliens, the spaceships, the planets and the stars, I've seen so much, she thought sadly, and yet there's so much more out there, waiting to be discovered.

She looked up and gazed at the end of the hall way, all around her, people groaned and moaned about their positions, patients or otherwise. For a brief moment, Martha considered letting herself go and at least try and see his face again in her mind like she has done so many times before. But he wasn't there, not anymore. Not his face, not his strange sense of fashion, not his unique ability of explaining advanced quantum physics at three hundred miles per hour, not even his little blue box. All of it was gone. She shut her eyes and squeezed out the memories, or at least tried to. There was other things for me to worry about now, she reminded herself, it would take more than qualifications and a young face to impress Dr. Landon, her new manager. It has taken her several months to get this position within the NHS branch in Cardiff and she needed to make some good impressions and there was certainly a lot of opportunities; Christmas was getting near and the sheer amount of patients reporting in because of food poisoning or injuries sustained from fights over the last turkey in ASDA was enough to put her off the festive spirit.

Christmas, she thought with disappointment, another occasion she never had with the Doctor and for all she knows, he might not even know what Christmas was. With a sigh, Martha turned into the X-ray room and handed a textbook sized folder to the operator, who seemed to loose the will to live the moment he laid eyes upon the cover. "Another candle down the gullet?" He moaned, flipping the pages without even looking at them, "When will these people ever learn not to eat things just because they resemble some exotic dessert from France?"

"I don't know," Martha looked down and picked out a form at the bottom of the massive file, "But at least this will keep you busy, the appointment is at six this afternoon so…" She grabbed a crushed cola can at the edge of the desk and tossed it into the wastebasket, "…clean this place up before anyone sees the state of it, alright Joe?"

The operator gave her a dry smile and went back to work. It was days like this that reminded Martha just how sad this planet can be sometimes and for a brief second, she even went as far as hoping that some aliens would pop by and zap her to the moon again. No such luck…


	3. The Missing Planet

Author's notes: This is incredible; this fic has gained even more reviews! (Jumps up and down) And I thought it was a waste of time at first . Anyway, this chapter is where the whole Barcelona thing comes in and believe it or not, that city/planet will be quite an important factor in this fic but you'll find out how later ; ) 

Replies to reviews:

**Gosurori Otaku: **well you can bet that this fic'll last much longer than a one shot, trust me : ).

**Emela:** since you asked nicely

**PeridotNox: **well I can only hope that you'll enjoy this chapter as much as the ones before, and like I said above, this fic relies on Barcelona quite a lot…

**Chapter 2: The Missing Planet**

With a unnecessarily large grin on his face, the Doctor stepped away from the Tardis and scanned the area within his vicinity; he appeared to have landed some distance away from the main citadel, which looked even more impressive than it did from the observation monitor. A gargantuan structure hand carved by thousands of artists and put together by the best architects within this end of the universe, no wonder some sentient beings flew from all corners of the galaxy just to marvel at its brilliance. Fantastic! Not many things in this universe could stun the Doctor but even he couldn't help but gasp at the majestic structure and the almost semi organic support pillars and wall texture. Good old Barcelona, he thought.

Except this wasn't Barcelona. Several feet away two teenagers crept behind the large boulders and stared at the strange individual whilst trying to come to terms that the blue box he came out of was indeed the same object that fell towards the planet and then disappeared, causing much panic and confusion in the meantime. As the man began to stroll towards the main citadel though, common sense took over the pair as they reached for their communicators and dialled the frequency for the local authority. This was not going to be pretty.

Several miles away, a platoon of armed police pinpointed the Doctor's location and whilst under cover by their clocking device, they set out a perimeter in an attempt to flank the mysterious man, who was still completely devoid of any knowledge of what was happening. He just kept walking. "Well this is an odd situation," One of the officers whispered, tracking the Doctor's movements with his sensors, "What are we meant to do, arrest him or something?"

His companion gave him a questioning look and shook his head, "On what charge, for landing on our planet in a box? You can't deny that the guy hasn't actually broken any laws, yet." They watched silently while the Doctor arrived at the foot of the mountain sized wall separating the city and the wilderness, he studied the barrier with intent, running his hands over the surface and tried to pick off the paint with his fingers as though he was a child eager to find something to play with.

All of a sudden, though, his smile faded as he managed to pry off a tiny chunk of surface plating with help from a sonic probe concealed within his long brown coat, "This is not Barcelonan design…" He whispered in a slightly disturbed tone and scanned with his probe once again as though to confirm his suspicions, "this is definitely not Barcelonan design. But what is it? Where are you from?"

"How about arrest him for damaging our property?" The officer suggested with a chuckle. They watched him continue to wrestle with his thoughts whilst signalling for the guide to meet and learn of his intent. With a loud creek, a section of the wall parted from the rest and slowly began to swing inwards with sparks flashing off the century old hinges and gears that controlled the gate. Slightly startled, the Doctor drew in a big breath before approaching a small counter located on the other side of the rusty wall. On it stood a small bipedal robot with a monitor located on its chest, it bowed at the presence of the Doctor or at least tried to given its terribly disproportioned arms and legs before it squat down and located a frequency from its built in aerial.

After a few seconds, an image blurred into existence and revealed the face of a female individual dressed in a uniform that represented some sort of authority. She apprehended the Doctor with a puzzled look and cleared her voice. "Welcome to Mt. Rainus, I am Ambassador Chance, please state your identity and purpose."

The Doctor considered for a few seconds before letting his smile show again, "Sorry to disturb you like this, ambassador, but I do believe that I am lost. You see…" He pulled a blank piece of paper from his coat and waved it in from of the robot's photon sensors, "I am a member of the galactic news agency and I was meant to conduct an interview with the controversial new owner of the Cwalo Cala franchise on the far eastern continent of Barcelona and was wondering if you can tell me if I'm in the right place."

The ambassador frowned and checked through some unseen notes on her desk, "Are you sure your not part of the Time Agency, sir?" The Doctor pretended to double-check his 'identification' and nodded. "Well you are at the far eastern continent," The ambassador continued with a slower pace, as though she was trying to speak and read his expressions at the same time but failing miserably, "but surely you would've known that this planet hasn't been called Barcelona since two centuries ago."

The Doctor paused for a second but quickly regained his role, "Oh of course, how silly of me. You see that was the other project I was meant to get on with, you know, the whole 'what happened to Barcelona' story. I must have run into a wormhole on the way here because this was all still just early news from where I came from. So…why don't you fill me in on what's happened since I'm here?" He finished with a smile that seemed too big to fit onto his face.

The ambassador replied with an uncomfortable expression as she quickly pushed away something out of the monitor's range and tidied her hair, even though it was clearly obvious that the Doctor was carrying no recording device of any sort. "Well you see, the Barcelonans was invaded a few hundred years back and wiped out by an unknown cult of aliens. Our civilisation only discovered this planet a few decades ago and when we arrived we kind of moved in to the remains of the city. The only thing we added was some security measures such as those walls you just came through."

"So you are scavengers," The Doctor replied, his voice suddenly became cold, "You found the remains of a great civilisation and instead of reporting your find to the rest of the galaxy, you simply took advantage of it all."

"Well yes," The ambassador said slowly, as though she has realised that this man was no journalist, "But we were in need of shelter back then and was lucky enough to find one. Since then we have named the planet Terra in honour of our God and…I'm sorry, can I see your ID again?"

The Doctor stared back at the woman and for a second he considered smashing the machine into a thousand pieces. Over ten thousand years of history has been abused by a bunch of hitchhikers who had no intention of respecting the Barcelonan's wishes of a quiet grave upon their beloved planet. It was bad enough that he has just learned of the demise of such a great civilisation, but he also saw now how one civilisation could invade and simply take everything they ever needed. And all the while no one even tried to stop them. It was sickening.

"I don't who you lot think you are or how you managed to achieve all this without any response from the rest of the galaxy," The Doctor snarled at the ambassador, "but I have seen the great Barcelonans before and I know every law and regulation from this corner of the galaxy on the back of my hand and your occupation here can't be legal plus the original inhabitants of this planet would be pretty mad about you abusing their home like this and since I owe them a favour, I'm going to say this to you…get off of this planet before I make the government of this sector have a second thought about your current position. "

Startled by the remark, the ambassador quickly turned her attention to someone outside the frame of the monitor before returning to her place with a newfound confidence on her face. "But I'm afraid you won't be doing anything of the sort, will you my friend?"


	4. Wounded

Author's notes: OMG! This fic really is popular! Weee!!! Haven't been this hyper in some time… Anyway, things are about to go a lot faster now so hang tight. Oh and by the way, to those of you who absolutely love David Tennant: please don't kill me… 

Review Replies:

**Kreek: **well I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about my stories before I actually write or post them so I do hope that the plot will hold together and that my patience has paid off, but that's ultimately you lot's opinion. Thanks for the review : )

**Syreene:** trust me, without Martha, the Doctor might not even be alive in this fic (slight spoiler there, people, soz). That moment will arrive soon…

**Chapter 3: Wounded **

"I'm telling you, Martha, you would not have believed how cheap it was, I mean fifty pounds for a pair of high heels from Marks & Spensors, that must be the bargain of the century."

Martha nodded and smiled at her sister's remarks for the tenth time within the last hour. Traffic jams has never seemed so slow. And whenever she thought about the adventures that would have happened round about this time of year if the Doctor had failed, it made her want to actually listen to her sister once in a while. Which was a terrible sign. "You know, its funny, of all the planets I have been to, not one of them even had a Marks & Spensors." She smiled with sarcasm written all over her face, "How could they have _ever_ survived?"

Her sister snorted and gazed out of the window and for a while all that could be heard was the soft purr of the engine. It wasn't usually this difficult for Martha to endure another rush hour, stuck in one spot for seemingly eons whilst her passengers whined on and on about their need to find a bathroom. But since her visit to the very far future of New Earth, every minute she spent in her car reminded her of that possible destiny for the human race had the Doctor failed to find out the truth; spending years of their lives in a mobile house, chatting to people in other cars and slowly reversing the evolution chain. It made her sick just thinking about it.

From across the packed street came four little Santas with plastic masks and a large hole on their permanently smiling faces to provide air for the person inside the costume. Martha remembered how she used to love seeing those ridicules costumes when she was still a kid, when she was still young enough to believe in Santa during Christmas times. Funny how she was the first person in her class to point out why there were multiple Santas walking around the streets when there was only supposed to be one. "Did they clone him, sir?" She used to ask whilst everyone laughed at her. Ten years later though, they seemed to be no more than lonely people dressed in plastic outfits and badly woven red hats, desperate to earn some extra money and maintain a living. How she pitied them. And yet as she sat within her small hatchback with the heaters on maximum, she could swear that those four were looking at her in a somewhat disturbing way…

* * *

The Barcelonans has always been known for their artistic lifestyle, whether it was their architecture, sense of fashion or their fine cuisine, these majestic individuals could always find art within virtually anything. Of course the Terrians has changed all that. Since their mysterious departure, the Barcelonan's home planet has been forced to withstand centuries upon centuries of abuse from nature and space looters looking for easy money and whilst the rest of the galaxy did all they could to keep the planet secure, it was ultimately like trying to keep a rotting elephant carcass safe from flies with nothing but a piece of A4. 

Just as the Doctor has suspected, occupation on Barcelona was illegal due to a contract signed by the great civilization and every other sentient beings from all corners of the galaxy millennia ago but what he didn't know was that it wasn't as though the rest of the galaxy didn't care about what was happening, they simply didn't have a choice.

Long-term protection of Barcelona without actually landing on the planet itself was expensive and impractical, not to mention ineffective as the criminals and looters continued to 'visit' and 'leave' the planet with minimal need of effort. For a while the rest of the galaxy had no choice but to watch as its most prized planet was almost picked clean. But that all changed when the Terrians arrived. Desperate and starved of supplies, the travellers simply had no where else to go and whilst many races set up various charities to aid the dying explorers, there was simply no way could they have sustained themselves. That was when the chief of the band of travellers offered their 'service' to the rest of the galaxy; they will claim permanent occupation upon Barcelona, and in return they will maintain what's left of the ruins and provide constant protection against looters or any other type of invaders likely to try their luck. It would have been their home planet, after all.

This act would have betrayed every single one of the legislations and contracts set up by the galaxy centuries ago but within a few days, the government saw no other alternative. And thus Barcelona was no more, and Terra was born.

Of course, the Doctor would have known all of this, and he would have reconsidered his views upon the Terrians if he had the chance. But by now, he was beginning to wonder if the natives were going to give him that chance at all. Laser beams flashed by his head as he raced at full pelt towards the hill where the Tardis was. Cries of war and calls of excitement rang for miles behind him as one after the other, Terrians came after him with weapons of all shapes and sizes; guns, axes, home made maces, some simply ran after him with their teeth bared. All in all, the Doctor was simply not welcome around here anymore.

Another battle cry came from within the massive mob as yet more beams of deadly light burned into the surroundings, filling the atmosphere with the smell of burning plants and molten rock. A few yards away from him, the Tardis glowed with all its beauty, as if already prepared to vanish into the time vortex the moment the Doctor reached inside. Just a few more yards, he kept telling himself, keep running and soon you'll be laughing about all this.

Out of seemingly nowhere, the platoon of policemen raised their cloaks and opened fire upon the Doctor, their weapons were deadly by all means but their accuracy was poor. With no cover in sight, he had no choice but charge onwards as beam after beam was fired in his direction, only to shine past his head and burn a hole into the chest of one of the mobs behind him. Enraged, the police growled and charged at him, if the blasters were to fail then perhaps it would be best to simply use brute force. The dozen or so plump and out of shape policemen ran as fast as they could and bared their large bulk upon the Doctor, who suddenly smiled at what he saw. With a quick and effortless flick of his legs, the Doctor slid under the rampaging men and emerged unscathed at the other side. Nothing stood between him and the Tardis as the men struggled to turn around and continue the chase. It was too easy.

They say that during times of great stress, one has the ability to withstand even the greatest of pain. The Doctor put that theory to the test. It wasn't until after he staggered into the familiar control room and pulled hard on the lever did he realise that he was shot. Whilst the crowd outside fired beam after beam at the blue box to no avail until the scrapping of the Tardis drowned it all out, he collapsed onto the floor and stared at the branched pillars and pot holed texture that was his only home and tried all he can to hang onto the image. But it was too late, too late for him in this state anyway.

"Time to move on, old man…"


	5. New Face

Author's notes: I'm still alive! Anyway, David Tennant has left the building, in my fic anyway, but don't worry, because he's not quite done with our new Doctor yet… 

Review replies:

**Emela:** if only my English teacher was as enthusiastic about reading my stories as you are… YAY! 

**PeridotNox: **Don't worry, I will ; ). Not sure if I have the time in China, mind u…

**Gosurori Otaku:** that's certainly the first time anyone's ever said that about my stories, thanks!

**Chapter 4: New face**

The life of a Time Lord was not an easy one. Being one of the oldest races in the universe, these majestic beings have almost become the teachers for all other sentient beings. Their ability to utilise their numerous time machines and other technologies that were considered by some as simply impossible, meant that they have travelled to places and indeed times no one has ever dreamt of seeing. For some of the more primitive races, in fact, the Time Lords were more than just another old and wise civilisation; they have become Gods. But even they cannot live forever.

A stream of multicoloured filled the control room as the Doctor's body began to pulsate. Every single strand of muscle was contracting violently as the cellular structure began to rid itself of the already rotting old genetic information and has started to replace them with fresh and undamaged DNA. Within seconds, the large burn upon his back shrunk until even the faintest of scars were healed to perfection as the regeneration process kicked into high gear followed by a series of spasms throughout the Doctor's body. From every millimetre of skin that was exposed came the golden particles, remnants of what was left of the old Doctor. They danced and weaved in and out of existence before the Tardis absorbed their energy and spread them evenly throughout its surface to join with the countless others that symbolised previous accounts of regeneration.

But something was wrong.

As the last of the particles finally faded away, the man that was the Doctor shook back into consciousness; the real world has never seemed so wonderful. But his rejoice was short lived as the moment he laid eyes upon his surroundings; the organic textures, the rusty controls and the clash of colours on his outfit, he fazed back into the realm of the dream world. This was all too unreal…

"It has been five days now since the mysterious comet 3X21 has passed through the Earth atmosphere without any signs of a possible impact. Although some meteorologists claim that this is a rare yet natural phenomena caused possibly by the sun, the military aren't taking any chances in light of the several recent attacks by what could only be described as extraterrestrial. The prime minister has warned the public to remain cautious as he claims the two previous 'incidents' during the Christmas holidays were unlikely to have been a coincidence and that Britain has long since learned from out past mistakes and are ready to fight back if necessary. In other news…"

* * *

The screen flickered off as Martha shook her head and headed for her room. Why won't the rest of the universe let me forget about him? She slumped into her bed and buried her face into the pillow, trying with all her might to drown out the insufferable singing coming from next door; five days of practice and they still sounded like trapped cats. Like everyone else she knew, Martha's parents were getting concerned and she couldn't blame them; she has more or less lost the will to live. How does that Rose live on knowing that he will never come back? She wiped away the tiny tear at the corner of her eye, how can one person affect my life so much when I have barely known him for a year? But of course, that would've been from one of her colleagues but for the Doctor, time was nothing but a speed bump; what appeared to be only a year or so of travelling felt like a lifetime and as far as Martha was concerned, it was.

A bright light flashed by as the so-called 'impossible comet' flew once again over the horizon. By now, she has given up any hope of that object being the Tardis, for all she knew the human race could be wiped out tomorrow and the Doctor wouldn't even know about it…

* * *

The man staggered to his feet with considerable difficulty as he struggled to maintain his presence in the real world. All around him, shapes and colours jumped and faded away, as though teasing him to come closer only to vanish, leaving nothing behind but empty air. A normal person would find this annoying except for this fellow; everything was too disoriented for him to think about much of anything. That must've been one hell of a party last night, he thought with gloom, except he couldn't remember where that party was held, Manchester? Leeds? Cardiff? But it felt worse than that, for not only could he not remember where he must have drunk a river's worth of larger, nor could he recall much of anything else that happened during that time.

But something must've happened; otherwise I'd be sober. Balancing himself on the edge of a desk, the man tried all he can to stay still and to allow his body to focus and recover its bearings. But such an easy task proved to be a challenge as bits and pieces of imagery lingered and tried to hang on before giving in and vanishing again. But it would take an idiot to have noticed that something was wrong with this picture, apart from the fact that it was still in pieces, and he certainly wasn't one.

"What is this place?" He muttered, searching the vicinity for something else to balance himself on. All of a sudden, things began to feel strange. Every part of his body felt…unfamiliar, as though he was looking through the eyes of another person; he could still touch and feel the messages sent from his fingertips to his brain, but they seemed somehow distorted. With a grunt, he grabbed onto a near by hand rail and tried to use it as a guide as he took one shaky step after the other in a vain attempt to find out where he was. Less than two steps away though he found a dead end. Great. The man sighed and wiped the sweat away from his brow and with his other hand still placed firmly on the rail, he covered his eyes until the lights faded out completely. Ok, he thought, I'm going to take my hand away, and when that happens, I want some answers.

"And that's exactly what you will get." A voice rang from the other side of the room. As though hanging between the great chasms that divided unconsciousness from the real world, the man turned and faced a man in his thirties wearing a blue suite, white trainers, and the worst pair of glasses he could imagine. "Now listen carefully," The young man said with a serious expression, "as you will no doubt realise, you cannot remember a thing. But don't despair because it's only temporary. Now then, sit back and relax, because I have an amazing story to tell you."


	6. Lost

Author's notes: Not much description in terms of how the new doctor would look in this chapter (I'm saving that moment for later LOL). Although as you can probably tell from the ending here that he's gonna have a new outfit (don't they always?). I'm still a bit unsure in that department so I'm open for ideas: ).

**Syreene:** If I'm really honest, I don't have much of an idea myself, yet. LOL

**Kreek:** That's my favorite way of keeping people interested without writing everything out in one go

**Chapter 5: Lost **

The young man stared at the still blurry individual, who maintained eye contact even though he seemed slightly off, as though he wasn't really there. Still staggering, he rose to his full height and approached the stranger, whose gaze was still fixed upon where it was instead of following the young man like a normal person.

"Who are you?" The young man mumbled and tried to study the one before him as best as he could. In other words, he's gathered that this was a man, and that was it.

"Oh well that's not half as interesting as who you are," The poorly dressed man replied with a grin on his face, and was still without any signs that he was actually talking to anyone in particular, at least not on his face. "But now I think about it, it is as interesting, but that's not my point." He looked down for a moment, as though considering what he was about to say next. "Alright, let's get a few things out of the way, first off, I'm not actually here." He pointed to himself, as though a primary school teacher trying with all his might to teach his students that this was a face, "You see, what you are witnessing right now is a hologram, a recording of someone else that's being played back to you. And as far as I can guess, your memory shouldn't be so messed up that you couldn't remember what a hologram is…but I have been wrong before."

The young man frowned and tried to understand what was being said: a hologram. Why does that ring a bell? With an adventurous step, he reached out his arm and edged it closer to the man before him. For a while, he kept it a few inches away from the man's arm and tried to convince himself that he was somehow not real. No idea why or how, but he simply wasn't. As he started to repeat these words within his head, he attempted to touch the man, only to see his hand passing right through him as the image became slightly distorted from the physical motion before re-establishing itself back into a convincing image. Incredible.

"If that seemed impressive, wait until you hear the rest of my story."

Still staring at the image, the young man took a few steps back until he can see the man from head to toe. "I'm listening…"

"Good!" The man beamed before removing his glasses, "Let's get started, shall we? Now then, you first asked me who I was but I bet right now you would much rather know how I knew you asked me that, right? Well that's quite simple, really, I'm very clever. See how simple that was?"

The young man rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed.

"But you see, when I flatter myself, well not really flattering because I really am that good, I'm also flattering you. How that works, and this is the best bit, is that you are me, and I am you…"

"I've heard enough," The young man rose and attempted to find an exit out of this alien environment, "Now if you could be so kind, please show me the way out."

"Now hold on for a moment," The man replied calmly, "Don't you want to hear the rest of it?" The young man smiled and shook his head sarcastically, "Well tough because you are hearing it anyway. Now then, before I get you confused, allow me to introduce myself, I am the Doctor. And before you start questioning my name, I want you to know that this really is my name. Not a title, there is nothing after it, it is just the Doctor, and don't you forget it. Now one of the first things you should realise about me is that I am not human. I may look human but I am not. And that means you are not either and the only reason why you think you are and why I am trying to tell you that you are not, is because of a fail safe I installed to my, and consequently your, mind. You see, I knew that this day would happen, and one of the many cultures I know the best in this universe is that of the human race, therefore it's a safe society for you to hide in whilst you try and remember who you are. This is going well, isn't it?"

From the other side of the room, the young man banged his head against the wall in frustration.

"But now that you know that you are not a human, you must be wondering what you really are. Well you are an alien, obviously, and a very impressive one at that. You are a Time Lord as am I. Now I could go on for weeks explaining the biological difference between Time Lord and human, but all you really need to know right now is that from the outside at least, you look exactly like a human and that if all goes well, you will blend in amongst them with no trouble. So, onwards, what you are sitting in right now is yours slash my ship. It's a time machine as well, hence the name Time Lord, see? It's called the Tardis, that's time and relative dimensions in space, and the thing is, this is the only one left in existence. Which kind of brings me to my ultimate point. You have just lost your memory, and that was because you regenerated."

The young man looked at the sound of that word, somehow for a mere second or so, he felt at home. But the big question still remained, why?"

"You see, Time Lords have a trick when they are dying. They go through a process, one that discards most of their genetic information, mainly the ones that control appearances, voice, and personality. Now whilst this is happening, new information is created, which are fresh and perfectly healthy, thus giving us the closest thing to a new life. Now I have gone through this process dozens of times, which is why I'm saying that you and I are one and the same. But you see, the sad thing is, even Time Lords won't live forever. This trick of cheating death cannot change this fact and the effects of old age for a Time Lord is best observed just after a regeneration process. Believe me, I have long since knew that my time was coming to an end; a couple of years ago I regenerated into what you see before yourself and it took a worryingly long time and energy to do so than before. That was the first stage of faulty regeneration and I fear that I have reached the second stage sooner than I expected. This is where the loss of memory comes in, which explains why you are unable to remember me or who you are and it's only going to get worse with my next couple of regenerations."

The young man hung his head in frustration since no matter how he looked at the situation, he was doomed; he couldn't go outside because this mysterious Doctor has locked him in, and even if he tried to understand what he has just said, it sounded as though his time in this world was coming to an end anyway.

"But don't despair," the Doctor exclaimed, suddenly back into the cheerful and carefree guy the young man first observed, "since this is only the first stage of memory loss due to regeneration, you should only remain in this state for a limited amount of time. I can't say for certain when your memory will return completely, but from what I have learned, things should come back to you in bits but I'm quite confident that twenty four hours should do the trick."

"Thank goodness for that…" The young man shook his head and leaned against the dented and rusty centre console.

"But during this twenty four hour period, you are vulnerable," The Doctor continued, staring straight ahead even though his intended audience was standing right behind him, "and when you are vulnerable, the whole universe is vulnerable, and that is not an exaggeration, it's a fact. Until your memory returns, you and this ship are not safe, which is why you must leave the Tardis immediately. There's no telling what could happen if this box falls into the wrong hands and things might get even worse if I let you stay and muck around with the controls. So here's the deal: you will leave the Tardis at its current location until the same time tomorrow, during which you will try and stay illusive and do your best to remember your true self. And make no mistakes about this, for you are possibly about to face the greatest challenge of your life."

The hologram of the Doctor felt silent as the young man tried to calm down; just as he was beginning to feel comfortable within this strange yet peaceful environment, this old geezer tells him to clear off. "But I can't just wonder aimlessly around this planet, there must be somewhere for me to go." He protested and waited for a response even though he knew it was stupid to do so.

"There is one person out there who can help you," The Doctor replied, much to the young man's surprise, "Her name is Martha Jones."

Martha Jones? All of a sudden, voices began to shift through the young man's mind as they repeated time and time again of that name… Martha Jones. The memory hanged on to his subconscious and ached for him to reach out and grab it. But it was too far and too faint, as though an old video recording might show the distorted image of a face, the young man struggled to make out a distinct picture within his mind.

"Don't worry," The Doctor whispered, as though he could sense the young man's pain, "I promise you, if she meant as much to me as I believed she did, you will recognise her the moment you lay eyes upon her face. You can trust me on this. Oh and one last thing before you leave…"

The young man turned and waited for an instruction, a clue, a hint or something that might help him further than what he has right now.

"Get changed."

"What?" He exclaimed in bewilderment.

"That suit will only ever look good on me," The Doctor grinned, "and besides, I'm not having anyone nicking my signature outfit."


	7. Home Away from Home

**Author's notes:** Sorry about the long delay people, it's just that I'm on holiday right now and gaining access to a computer isn't easy plus I don't really have much time. I will try and update every now and then but that isn't a promise. Hope you haven't lost interest (!)

**Syreene**Don't worry, cus I really hated that outfit LOL

**Emela**Terribly sorry about the long wait, please forgive me :s

**Lady Eivel**He won't seem so useless once he regains his memory, trust me…

**Kreek**I'm not really sure, any ideas?

**Gosurori Otaku**I've settled on something simple, although that can change any time if you guys aren't happy with it.

**Chapter 6: Home away from home**

From amongst the vast and endless crowds the little blue box began to materialise within the alleyway, its faint yet distinguished engine note covered a distance of a few yards as it reached the final stage of landing. No body knew what it was, or yet, no one really cared.

As the scrape began to fade away, a young man in his twenties took an adventurous step out of the virtually cramped space and out into the open streets. He wore a simple black T-shirt and a pair of black trousers finished off by a pair of shiny black shoes, he had no idea why but all of this seemed so wrong partly because of the fact that everyone else he has seen walking past the Tardis through the monitor were dressed as though it was winter, but mostly because he felt as though none of this were really his.

"You are the Doctor…"

Gingerly, he closed the wooden door behind him as they creaked and protested and with a few breaths of the afternoon exhaust fumes, he was ready to embrace this world. Except he wasn't, part of him believed that he knew nearly all there was to know about this planet, but that part of him has yet to truly reveal itself.

"Doctor…" He whispered and let the sound of his voice float around him, "Who are you, Doctor?"

That, he knew, was something only he could find out for himself.

With a sigh, he stepped away from the mysterious ship only to realise that he has never even considered how excited he should be if only he really was a human: an alien ship, right behind me! Unable to resist, he turned to face the vehicle he has stepped away from, expecting some sort of attack vessel covered with turrets, rockets, and hopefully a nice paint job. Instead, he found himself looking at a police box.

"What the…?"

He stood transfixed, unable to comprehend how such an impressive interior could be surrounded by a totally unimpressive exterior: where are the light-speed generators, the argon lasers or the extrapolator?" He thought with disappointment but suddenly froze at his last thought… "Extrapolator? Why does that sound so familiar?"

"_The extrapolator's working, we have a fully functional force field, try saying that when you're drunk…"_

Could this be some sort of relapse? He thought with a frown, where did he hear that before? But as he tried to remember, another thought popped into his mind: this ship seems a bit…small.

"I'm sure that this was bigger on the in…side…" He shook his head and stood firmly where he was, "No, I will not pace up and down and wonder how this is possible," He told himself, "I will not circle this thing and touch to see if this is real, it's childish and immature…and I know I can't resist."

Of all the times when the great Doctor has travelled to a distant planet on an unknown time line, many people have witnessed his arrival. Maybe an odd individual who just happened to have passed by or perhaps a flock of children, who believed that they have seen a miracle, there was always someone there to marvel upon his existence.

But not this time, this time things were a lot different.

With slow and deliberate steps, the young man stepped into the open streets and gasped as hundreds of people rushed about, gathering the many goods displayed within the shiny and bright buildings. Strange vehicles drove past at break neck speed carrying the valuables acquired by these people, who were constantly on the look out for yet more goods to lay their hands on. The urge to take is strong amongst these people, he thought as a couple grabbed a pair of jeans eagerly off the shelf of an near by shop with greed all over their eyes.

"Bizarre…"

With a sigh he began to walk in one direction, devoid of any knowledge of where he was going and in a way, he didn't really care. From across the streets, a young woman glanced at him with a frown and pointed at him as others began to notice his existence. "Hey weirdo, the hospital is over there if you need it!" They laughed and jeered as he kept on walking. Must be the outfit, he thought gloomily, except he didn't feel cold at all, in fact he was boiling with energy, every now and then he would feel as though he would collapse under the heat with no one there to help him because in their eyes, he was just another ordinary person wearing summer cloths at Christmas…

"Where are you, Martha?" He whispered and shoved his hands into his pockets, where upon he felt the only two things he took with him as he left the Tardis: a small cylindrical probe and a mobile communication device native to this planet. But why, he thought, what can I possibly do with an alien phone?

"_Her name is Martha Jones…"_

The Doctor must've carried this for a reason, he thought, but what do I do with it? How do I find Martha Jones? And with that thought still in his head, the device rang…


	8. Date with Destiny

**Author's Notes:** I hate myself, I really do. Every time I get a decent idea for a fic, I end up stopping halfway through. Man I can be rubbish sometimes… Anyway, part of this chapter has been written for quite a while so I've decided to cut it short and publish it whilst I think about what to include later. My new Christmas target right now is to get this fic finished before the new Christmas episode is released. But that is not a promise…

**Chapter 7: Date with Destiny**

It took Martha over two hours to sort through the endless files upon her desk, two hours of her life wasted over someone having a stomach complaint amongst other trivial things. With a sigh she closed the last of the folders and hunched face down over the small mountain; two hours!

She listened with half a ear as the rain outside finally began to die down and wondered how those around her could watch the water droplets pound against the glass and maintain a sane piece of mind. How could they forget so easily? How could the human race continue with their daily lives when so many calamities have happened over their own planet these last few years? The two Christmas ships, the battle of Canary Wharf, and the endless lists of times when planet Earth was on the brink of destruction, all of it prevented by one man…

"Don't just leave me like this…" Martha whispered and let a tear drop from her weary eyes, "We've been through so much together, doesn't that mean something to you?"

"_When I ring, you better come running…"_

With her eyes closed, she dug her hand into the pocket of her long white uniform and wrapped her fingers affectionately around the small phone. A part of her wanted to call the Doctor now, so that she could at least see him in the flesh again or hears his voice, even if it's him giving her a lecture about not using the phone unless it was an emergency.

"But this _is_ an emergency, Doctor," She whimpered and wiped her tears away, "I'm loosing the will to live here and I'm sorry but that's just not fair!" Enraged by her own lack of self control, she pulled the device out and slammed it against the surface of the table as she strained against the overwhelming urge to start dialling. Don't be stupid, she reasoned, even if he comes, even if he decides to stop for a couple of hours, and even if he decides to take you back again, do you really want to go back to that life? What about family, what about work, what about a normal life…?

"Is everything alright, Martha?" Joe poked his head around the doorframe and gave her a caring look, "Did something fall off the table? I heard a noise."

"I'm fine, I was just going to call a friend, don't worry about me…"

Not entirely convinced, the middle-aged operator shook his head and disappeared around the corner, mumbling about how this must have been a women thing. As Joe's footsteps died down, Martha sighed and turned her attention back onto the phone, "Maybe he wouldn't really need to come, and maybe this really will be just a call to a friend…" And with that final thought, she began to dial.

* * *

The young man held on firmly to the device as it rang and vibrated, giving off a shrill, almost angry tone at the mean time. On other planets, a device with such awful combination of violent movement of internal clockworks as well would often be immediately treated as some form of dangerous explosive and should such a device ever be discovered in some parts of the galaxy, the local authorities would end the machine's misery with the blunt end of his or her rifle. 

And yet on this planet, this was considered to be painfully normal…

Gingerly, the young man flipped the hatch open and gazed upon the tiny screen for a reference as to what was going on. Martha Jones. That was the answer the device gave him: Martha Jones and her number flashing in bright yellow. This can't be, he thought, what are the chances that she would ring him right now, when he needed her the most? The Doctor never gave him any more instructions as to how to find Martha Jones, so perhaps she was meant to find him?

Without waiting for anymore answers, the young man pressed a button with a small green symbol engraved upon the surface and held the device close to his head. For a while he could hear nothing, nothing apart from the faint breathing of someone on the other side. With fear that the line might be cut, the young man whispered in an almost inaudible voice: "Hello?"

A quiet static hummed and buzzed from the other side. For a while his voice seemed to echo on and on, as though through a bottomless pit, with no hope of an end or a reply and he despaired at the thought. For he was alone on this planet with no hope of staying where he was; when the time comes, he will simply move on to somewhere else…

"Doctor…?" A young female voice whimpered and held her breath, the sound eased his troubled mind, but it also uncovered a deep and empty part of his two hearts. _Doctor! Doctor!_ The name kept ringing in his ears as the face of Martha Jones surfaced and submerged itself again and again in his mind, as though he wasn't paying attention at first but when he did, the image disappeared.

"Doctor, are you there? Speak to me!" The voice begged, almost desperate for a response yet the young man could not speak; too much memory was raising and falling, over nine hundred years of life flashed by in ten seconds. It was too much. "I know that you're mad at me and my weakness, but I just can't keep going without you. If only I could see this day, I would never have gone into that blue box with you but I did. And now, everyday I feel as though something is missing from my life, something I can't live without…"

The grinding pain finally came to a stop and as Martha poured her heart out, the young man remained silent and tried to absorb it all; at first he believed that this woman was merely an assistant the Doctor had to aid him when needed. Now though, it turned out that she needed aid more than he did. With a sigh, the voice died down, as though she was unable to continue. The same emotions rose from within but they were empty and cold; who was this woman and what should I do? These questions kept repeating themselves within his head and he longed to know what the Doctor would do in this dilemma.

I suppose talking might help… 

"Martha…" He started but immediately heard a sharp intake of breath from the other side and he realised the simple truth: she doesn't recognise his voice. "I need you…"

"What the… who is this?" Martha struggled to swallow her sorrow as she tried to comprehend how she could have possibly dialled the wrong number. As she brought the phone before her eyes, she checked and then rechecked the numbers: they were as she had made them, each one seemed to carve deeper into her heart. "Who are you and how did you acquire this number?"

With his mind blank and devoid of ideas, the young man whispered quietly into the speaker, unsure of how Martha would react, "I am here on account of The Doctor, if you want to know more, you know where to find me." And without a second notice, even as though from other side, she sounded as though she was going to respond, he hung up.


	9. Contact

**Author's notes:** Told you that'll be quick LOL. Truce is, I wanted to make sure I don't loose sight again. So this is it; the long awaited (I hope) moment where the new Doctor meets the lovely Martha Jones. I really hope I haven't screwed this up…

**Chapter 8: Contact **

The device remained dead in his hands. He knew deep inside that his final message to Martha was ambiguous at best, and yet he believed deep inside that somehow, she knew exactly what he meant. Which was more than he knew himself, for as he wandered aimlessly in a random direction down a random street, he could not work out what he said and why he said it: _you know where to find me._ Where is that? How could she find me if I couldn't find it? One after the other, the questions bombarded him like so much unwanted junk as he dug deeper into his memory to search for a clue.

The lights around him began to fade as the sun took its shelter behind the distant buildings and almost like clockwork; the light of man glowed brighter and brighter. Outside the various shops and restaurants, men and women continued to pour in and out, like machines with only one purpose in mind. He knew not what the purpose was only that somehow, the memories brought to him from the woolly red and white clothing all around him was not one of joy like so many others were feeling. Instead, a faint yet terrible dread began to feel his soul. From across the street, four small men who decorated themselves from head to toe in red and white strolled purposefully to the side of the crowds; they carried with them golden instruments and as they lined the small openings with their mouths, a slow, deep music gurgled out of the front.

The feelings tugged at him again as he hurried away in order to get as far away as possible. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the four dwarves disappearing from view; their almost plastic like faces kept staring onwards. Lifelessly. Without a second of doubt he began to run; every fibre of his being told him that something wasn't right. He sprinted down a narrow alleyway as though an invisible monster was in pursuit, ready to snatch him away to the darkness. The strange music crept up again, this time from the outside of the alley and like a dagger it stabbed into his head as he collapsed into piles of rubbish near the dead end. One by one, images from his previous life flashed before his eyes; when he was still travelling from one planet to the other, carefree and happy because he had someone with him, someone special. The excruciating pain increased and as suddenly as it came, it vanished. Gingerly, he relaxed his grip upon his own hair and slowly rose to his feet and as he did, his eyes fell upon the most beautiful sight they have ever seen.

* * *

Martha remained where she was; part of her was petrified at what she has just seen whilst the other part wondered what on Earth she was doing here. Before her, scrounged against the wall like some wounded animal was a young man no older than herself; he was dressed as though he was in the wrong season but even from this distance, she could see that somehow, he was burning. Her mysterious caller stared into her eyes and for a moment, she considered walking away. It was, after all, a long shot to begin with; trying to regain contact with someone she has effectively dumped. And yet, something in those pearl like eyes told her to stay.

"Are you the one who called me?" Despite the millions of questions she wanted to ask; where is the Doctor, is he all right, has he found another assistant yet, she managed to remain calm and practical.

The young man remained silent, his eyes glued to her being as he struggled back to his feet, only then did she realise that he towered over her, and yet he seemed almost afraid. But then, as though a fuse within his head had snapped, he bolted upright and with a charming smile, he said: "You are Martha Jones." His smile was almost as big as the Doctor's as he slowly yet eagerly approached her, "I remember now, in fact I can't believe how I could ever forget." Fascination crept over his being as he came uncomfortably close to her; his gaze remained fixed into hers, like tiger that was ready to pounce. "You didn't want to leave, but you had to…" He whispered in the same way as a scientist might as he slowly began to work things out, "At least that's what you told yourself: you had to leave to protect someone no matter how much you didn't want to."

For the briefest of moments, the young man looked away as he remained deep in thought whilst Martha took her chances and took a few steps away from him; his every word and action seemed achingly familiar and yet distant at the same time. The second or so gap ended abruptly as he snapped his gaze back into hers with newfound excitement on his face, "But you knew that one day, it would be safe to come back out, to seek adventure again. That's why you gave him this…" He pulled the phone from his pocket, the very one she had handed to the Doctor so long ago. "So that you could find him and go back to the way it was before."

Martha gasped and without knowing, she backed herself against the wall. It was as though she was listening to her own subconscious, telling her what she had felt for what seemed like centuries. Her parents have always warned her about listening to her heart instead of her head, but at that moment, she couldn't have cared less. "Did the Doctor send you?" She ventured with hope in her eyes.

For the first time since she had met him, the young man's smile suddenly disappeared as he stood and considered her question. After what seemed to be a wrestle in his own mind, he nodded. "I need your help, Martha. The Doctor told me to trust you and only you." He lowered his gaze, as though unable to decide what he should or should not say. "He owed me a favour, and once I have… healed, I will be on my way."

Martha gulped as she wondered what this could all mean; the Doctor was intrusting her with a task that seemed so professional, as though a real doctor has requested her assistance. She observed the young man's behaviour, how he seemed to stand firm yet display a sense of innocence upon his admittedly handsome features, and she knew secretly that she wasn't going to get any more answers for now. "What do you need me to do?"


	10. Christmas with the Jones

**Author's Notes:** The end is getting near, people, I will get this story finished before Christmas or God help me I'll… you get the idea.

**Chapter 9: Christmas with the Jones**

"So remind me again: why am I doing this?" Though the answer had been given less than five minutes ago, Martha still could not shake the feeling that something wasn't right. As she backed her car up against the Jones family drive, the young man she has picked up locked his gaze at the house, which was slightly more comfortable than having him staring at her.

"The Doctor owed me a favour and all I'm asking for is some shelter." He repeated his answer without shifting his vision, as though some incredible answer was hidden within the walls of the detached house before him. Martha gave him a sceptical look as she climbed out with her keys in her hands. Even from out here, she could here her sister's relentless voice as she singed along to her collection of Christmas Carols, and just for a moment, Martha considered driving elsewhere. The dazzling lights that covered every inch of the neighbour's houses made the Jones dwelling seem tame by comparison, for Martha though, there was little to celebrate.

"You behave yourself."

With slight regret, she opened the front door and just as she suspected, her sister bolted through the hallway like a gazelle and embraced her as though they haven't seen each other in decades, even though Martha gave her a lift to work that very morning. "Martha! Come inside and play Sing Star with me," She yelled gleefully, the smell of strong alcohol nearly knocked Martha out, "Mum says it's childish and Dad's voice is just terrible!"

"Dad?" Martha gasped as she saw her father standing near the kitchen with his hands in his pockets and a large grin on his face. Bewildered, Martha forced her sister to release her before embracing her father, whose face suddenly seemed ten years younger, "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't spend Christmas without my girls," He whispered quietly, as though embarrassed, "Your mum was kind enough to let me stay for a while." At the other end of the house, Martha saw her mother observing them with a faint smile, as though she hasn't seen such spectacle for years. "Don't tell your mother yet, but I've finished with that girl." Mr Jones hushed with a small sign of pride on his expressions and by coincidence or not, Martha saw her mother chuckling slightly as she went back to her roast.

Still drunk, her sister stumbled towards the living room and dragged out her brother, who still had the remote in his hands. "Stop being such a pig and say hi to Martha!"

And such was the ways of a family; depressed when separate, joyful when reunited. The young man watched on as snow began to fall from the silent night and for a brief moment, he wished he could capture the image and hang it up somewhere in the Tardis before a sudden urge of pain shot across his skull as he remembered a simple truce: he had no one left…

"Martha?" Her sister called lazily as she pointed at the doorway, "Who is that gorgeous hunk standing on our driveway?" Martha gasped as she remembered her guest, who remained where he was despite how he looked like a complete idiot in his summer cloths. Red in the face, she dragged him into the house and slammed the door shut whilst the rest of the family began to notice this stranger.

"Mum, dad, guys," Martha shoved the young man into the living room, "This is…umm… a friend of mine who's going to be staying for Christmas." With a grunt, she pushed him into the sofa and tried to regain her composure, as though nothing was out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, her family simply looked at her like someone would when going to the zoo and she couldn't blame them. "Look, he is very well behaved, you wouldn't even notice that he's here!"

Her family shifted their gaze back to the stranger, who could only smile back in the hope that they would turn their attention to something else. "Martha," Her dad exclaimed, "why didn't you tell us you were bringing a guest? I thought we were going to have a family Christmas this year, just us and no one else!" He pleaded for he dared not to make a spectacle and yet even the blind could tell that the stranger was not exactly wanted.

"Your father is right, Martha," Mrs Jones stepped forwards, the way she always did whenever Martha got herself into trouble, "We can't just accept a random stranger into our house, especially not at this time of year. And besides, you didn't even say anything."

Desperate, Martha looked back at the young man, who could only return her questions with a shrug. Every pair of eyes was focused onto her being and for some reason, she felt more afraid than ever; this was perhaps the only chance she will ever get to find the Doctor again and no matter what it takes, she must get the answer one way or another. "Mum," She stepped forward and whispered, "Remember a few months ago? When the Doctor saved us from the Master?" Her mother shivered at the memory but she pressed on, "He saved us all that day, not just everyone here, but the whole planet! Now we owe him for that whether you like it or not, and now is the time to pay him back." She gestured at the young man, who seemed more fascinated than anything else, "The Doctor asked me to look after him and that's what I'm going to do. And there's nothing you or dad could do to stop me from achieving that."

"But…" Mrs Jones looked at her ex-husband for support, who could only say that it was her call; it was after all, her house. "We can't keep him here indefinitely…"

"We won't need to, we just need to keep him from trouble for twenty four hours. Just a day, mum!" She remained still in the hopes that her message would be understood, and whilst she cared little for the small decisions in life, this was one thing she could not change her mind on.

"One day, that's all I can promise. One day."

* * *

It has never before occurred to the Doctor that there is perhaps joy in ignorance; he has already accepted this identity as he watched the Jones family dig into their meal whilst the gossips of the season were passed along back and forth without even a hint of slowing down. In the last few hours, the Doctor has questioned himself numerous times whether if he should have simply stayed in the Tardis until the morning but since then he had wondered that perhaps, this was part of the plan to remind him of his past.

As he looked from one end of the table to the other, the faces he saw had become quite familiar; Mr Jones and Mrs Jones, the ones who assisted him and Martha in disabling the Master's plan; Martha's brother, the only one in the Jones family who escaped capture; and Martha's sister, the one who was forced to scrub the deck of the Master's ship. Each and every one of them had fought beside him and yet at this time, they seemed no different from any other family the Doctor could remember seeing in his life.

"So I was like, 'if you think you're so sexy, why don't you sweep me away right now?'" The laughter echoed round all corners of the room as Martha's sister, who seemed even more drunk than before, giggled uncontrollably.

"Why John," Martha's mother gestured to the Doctor, who only just snapped his attention back to the table, "You haven't touched your food yet." John, that's the name he gave them all. He could understand that the Doctor would need a secret identity every now and again, but why specifically John Smith he never worked out. "You need to be reminded what common sense is, young man. Wandering around dressed like that at this time year can't possibly be good for you."

Martha's sister roared into laughter again as her brother shook his head at the state she was in. "You must be the luckiest girl in the world," She pointed at the Doctor, who tried to stay as far away as possible, "Getting that for Christmas!"

"Stop being so silly!" Martha snapped back, her face suddenly red, "Just because you're jealous…"

"Oh fine then," Her sister gave her an evil look, "Just remember, you can't open him until tomorrow!" And with that, she carried her dishes as her laughter trailed behind her; somehow, the Doctor felt relieved that she was no longer in the premise.

An awkward silence fell over the table as Martha desperately tried to hide her blush whilst her mother gave the Doctor a look that said: it's not always like this in our house, honest. The truce was though; the Doctor couldn't help but feel out of place. He appreciated every effort the Jones family has done to make him feel at home, but he didn't. It was because of him that they were separated with Martha; it was because of him that the Master arrested them, and it was because of him that they had to fight for their lives. He felt achingly guilty as the rest of them cleared their plates and headed to the kitchen until only he and Martha was left.

"So, how much do you remember now?" Martha mumbled.

"I recognise your family but I still can't remember much about the technical stuff."

Without bothering to find out what that meant, Martha shrugged and left the table for he has gotten her into enough trouble as it was. As silence fell, the Doctor felt lonelier than ever; he did not know why he shouldn't simply tell her that he was the Doctor, perhaps he was afraid that she wouldn't believe him, or was it because of something more sinister? With frustration, he frowned as he wondered why he felt so intimidated, even more so as he settled down on the settee and watched the children outside as they played in the snow and with a sudden leap in his hearts, he felt terrified. It was this time of the year, something always happens on this time of the year…

The doorbell rang as Martha's mother hurried to answer it. From the window, the Doctor could make out dark, short shapes that carried what appeared to be a tree. Both of his hearts pounded hard in his chest as he approached the hallway just in time to see six short men dressed in red and white with plastic masks over their faces; they carried a massive Christmas tree that was already decorated and upon the tip, sat snugly was a tiny golden star the size of a coat button.

"So if can just sign here, love, and we'll be on our way." One of the men mumbled through his mask as he handed over a clipboard and pen. As Martha's mother signed enthusiastically, all six of the men suddenly turned their eyes upon the Doctor, like hungry sharks that have just spotted their prey. With a gasp, he retreated back into the living room and out of their sight. The moment he did, the six men dragged the tree into the hallway without further comment and walked straight out.

"Martha!" Mrs Jones called, "Help me get this tree hooked up, get your brother and father whilst you're at it." She appeared round the hall and smiled at the Doctor, who concentrated his gaze upon the mysterious tree. "It's lovely isn't it? I really wanted to make a change this year." From behind, Martha and her father lifted the roots and stand and together, they heaved the monstrously large tree into the corner, the tiny star at the top was just short of scrapping on the ceiling.

"Tell me again why this tree is any better than the last one," Martha panted and wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. "I mean sure it's electrical and it's bigger but it doesn't look all that different."

Mrs Jones gave her a slightly annoyed look as she adjusted a few of the decorations that have been knocked out of position. "Of course it's different, it glows and sing carols, watch." She plugged the tree in and within seconds, the top, middle and bottom sections began to spin slowly in opposing directions whilst Jingle Bells was played through some unseen speakers. Whilst Mrs Jones giggled excitedly, the Doctor stared wide eyed at the newest addition to the Jones' house for he just remembered why for him, Christmas can be a VERY bad time of the year…


	11. The Doctor's Moment

**Author's notes:** I don't have much experience in writing action scenes but I still think this is a pretty exciting chapter. Like I said before, the end is really near and you could say that this is where the climax begins…

**Chapter 10: The Doctor's Moment**

There is never really a way to contemplate one's inevitable demise. Even for the Doctor, there are times where he has no idea what to do in the face of certain death; he has run from it, he has fought it, but never did he ever had to completely accept it. As the lights dimmed, however, he knew that the same nightmare that had haunted him for two years will only repeat itself and it was going to very soon. The tree remained as still as he was during the seemingly endless night; a few times he thought he saw some sort of movement but only turned out to be a trick of the lights or the results of his own fatigue.

Never before had the Doctor had to spend a whole night whilst being this close to danger, at least not when he was conscious. He had tried again and again to convince the Jones to get rid of it, how he was sure that something bad was going to happen. But as long as he remained under the disguise of John Smith, not even Martha would believe him. As he nursed himself gently to sleep, the images of killer Christmas trees raged within his mind; much of his memory has returned to him in the last few hours but what caused his fear of Christmas and more importantly, how to deal with it, remained as elusive as ever. And whenever he thought he was about to drift away into dreamland, there would be a little Santa waiting for him with a very big gun.

"Santa!" He exclaimed in his mind, which in turn caused him to wake up again, "At least I know what they are now…"

He took another glance at the gigantic tree but like before, saw no evidence of danger. With a frustrated sigh, he walked over to the inanimate object and ran his hands over its spiny surface and colourful decorations. "What are you…?" It was not unlike any other Christmas trees he has ever seen; green spines, dark brown trunk. And yet that tiny star still kept him alert for he still could not work out why it was there; it was far too small to act as a finishing touch for the decoration and yet it was still noticeable. Dazed by his need for sleep, the Doctor made one last analysis on the tree before unplugging it for safe measure.

"Don't think I'm through with you…"

* * *

The Christmas morning came with it the most horrid present ever devised; Martha's sister's singing. It became clear to everyone in the house that despite the laws of biology, she was still somehow drunk.

"Shut up already!" A grumpy Martha in a yellow dressing gown half tripped down the stairs and collapsed into the sofa, regardless that she has just crushed her guest. "I'm one sleepless night away from going insane." From the kitchen, her sister turned the radio onto its loudest setting and along with her singing came music that thundered through every bone in Martha's body. _"All I want for Christmas is you!"_

"All I really want is for her to shut her face." She mumbled and gave her guest a poke in the head. With a groan he woke to terrible pain in his legs and saw a bizarre sight where Martha was sitting on them. She laughed tiredly and took an effort to get up; somehow the whole idea of Christmas didn't really appeal to her this year… "That's just great," She groaned, which caught the Doctor's attention, "I knew mum would leave that thing on all night long, why didn't you switch it off?"

A sudden chill ran down the Doctor's spine as he snapped his head towards the tree so hard there was a slight crack, and before him was a sight he had dreaded since the night before: the tree was spinning like it was meant to with lights that glowed from the tips of every spine and the sound of Jingle Bells was rumbling from inside. Terrified, the Doctor leapt up and caused Martha to fall flat on her face. He ignored her protests as he rushed to the socket and saw that the plug that was supposed to be unplugged was perfectly in place.

"What's wrong with you?" Martha yelled as he slowly backed away from the tree and his right hand gently crept into his back pocket, where he fished out what he believed to be the sonic screwdriver. As soon as the silver and blue device came into her vision, Martha gasped and clutched it in her hands with disbelief. "Where did you get this? Answer me!"

But he remained silent and still, his gaze fixed upon the tree, which seemed to spin faster with every second. "Get everyone out of the house." The Doctor said with a command like voice and to Martha's dismay, his grip upon the sonic screwdriver only tightened. "There's no time for me to explain so get everyone out of the house. NOW!"

Terrified and confused, she let go of his hand just in time to witness a horrendous transformation: the ferocity of the tree's spin began to die down and for a brief moment, it appeared to bend forwards and back, like a great beast that was awoken by some unseen force. With a click, two spiny appendages expanded from the mid section followed by a great crack as the base and bottom section split in two. Like some monster created in the 80s, the tree gave a unnatural roar that would silence lions as the top section ripped itself open and revealed a mouth full of spikes for teeth. It roared again and dived for the Doctor, who couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way. The creature smashed him into the wall opposite and began to gnaw upon his body. Martha screamed as the horrid mass of spines scratched and bit the Doctor as though it hasn't eaten for days.

From upstairs, Mr Jones yelled for them to be quiet as he climbed down and rubbed his eyes, only to see half of the living room in shreds as the Doctor managed to boot the creature off long enough to get back to his feet. Dust and scratch marks covered every inch of his being as he urged Mr Jones to run just as the creature launched yet another assault, this time on Martha.

The scream that followed was inhuman as Mr Jones struggled to wrestle the beast off of her daughter, only to turn its attention upon him; the creature tossed him away like a rag doll and pursued the Doctor to the kitchen. By this stage even Martha's sister had noticed that something was wrong as she dived for cover in the corner whilst the beast smashed the shelves of exotic wine where the Doctor's head had been. Enraged, Martha burst into the premise, she spied for a weapon and settled on a meat cleaver that was knocked out of the drawers during the chaos. With a scream she hacked away at one of the monster's appendages until she heard a yelp as the branch fell with a thud onto the floor tiles. But her victory was short lived as the stump where the creature's 'arm' was began to grow and within seconds, it became a new appendage that was almost twice as long as the first. With no effort at all, it threw the woman aside where it could search for more victims, only to see none; both Martha's sister and the Doctor was no longer in the room. Confused, the creature shuffled through the remains of the kitchen counter like a massive gorilla as it searched for the its missing breakfast.

From the hall, Martha struggled to her feet; she could not believe how she was still alive as she watched the still confused creature tear through the dishwasher. Everything was in ruins as she crept to her father, who was covered in splinters and barely conscious. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother who was close to tears as she struggled to remain quiet; her sister was scrounged up against the door and from above, her brother gasped at the scene below. And yet she could not see her guest anywhere.

And just as she despaired at what to do next, the sound of screaming came to her ears: the creature was in great pain as it backed out from the kitchen and fell into a slump upon the living room carpet. Above it, the Doctor hosed it down with a fire extinguisher and seemed almost relentless as he stepped down upon the creature's appendages. The monster gave a hoarse groan as the tiny star upon its top flashed repeatedly but came to an abrupt end as the Doctor silenced it with a click of his sonic screwdriver.

And once again, the house fell silent.


	12. Lost and Found

**Author's notes:** Wow I can't believe I've actually made it this far… By the way, this is the chapter that finally explains what Barcelona had to do with the whole thing so please enjoy

**Chapter 11: Lost and Found**

Not a whisper passed and not a breath was taken. Never before in Martha's memories had she experienced anything so utterly quiet. As the beast twitched and whimpered under a blanket of dust, debris and grime, the feeling of dread began to sink in; all around them, the areas of the house that was once a hallway, a living room and a kitchen had been swept clean. Not a furniture was left intact and not an inch of the rooms were not devastated by the sheer chaos that has occurred. So much destruction, all thanks to this creature, particularly which one, however, Martha couldn't be sure.

With a grunt, the Doctor heaved himself off of the creature, his black tee shirt was covered in grey dust and even from a distance, blood could be seen where the monstrous tree had bitten and scratched the man. As the shock began to swallow the Jones family, Martha rushed to the Doctor's side, who winced at her warm touch; every part of his body was a reminder of what has happened and though it pained her to admit the truth, she had to confirm her suspicions.

"You didn't want me to find out," She whispered with fear that her family would only make it worse should they realise the same thing, "You just wanted to regain your memories whilst you regenerated, isn't that right, Doctor?"

The young man closed his eyes, as though he was fighting a war from within and as much as he hated the truth, he knew there was little point in hiding it anymore. "How did you know?"

The smile that stretched across his former assistant's face could have healed any and all wounds as she embraced him in a tight hug, "Only the Doctor would have stood up for us like that." Never before had he felt such reassurance and comfort for at that very moment he remembered why he had always felt so alone; whenever he went, death and destruction would follow. He would run from one end of the universe to the other, from one end of time to the other, but he still could not escape from the guilt he had in his two hearts. And yet it was for that reason, he needed Martha for she was the one who stood by his side when no one else would and no matter how much she has been through, she would never abandon him.

From the corner of his eyes, the Doctor saw the rest of the Jones family picking themselves up whilst they tried to stay as far away from the tree as possible. As he let go of Martha's hold, a thousand questions burst forth from their mouths: "What the hell is that thing? How did this happen? Is it dead now?"

The Doctor groaned as he examined the still whimpering creature; the star upon its head had been shattered and it was stripped of its decorations. "No, it's not dead." He muttered and ran his hand down the creature's back, where he found the proof to his suspicions. "I merely severed the transmission that was controlling it," He snapped the broken star off and threw it to the Jones, "It was being remote controlled, poor thing, and must have been for a very long time. When the signal is severed, the body goes into shock and will take some time to recover."

Mr Jones stared at him with disbelief and a hint of rage; here was the man who was acting as though nothing has happened whilst the whole family nearly perished and despite this, he appeared to pity the creature. "Why didn't you kill it?"

But to his dismay, the Doctor's attention has been drawn to the outside, where six figures stood staring at the house; each one wore identical Santa outfits with the same plastic masks. "That's the problem with Pilot Fishes," He whispered and gripped the self destruct device tightly in his hand, "They have a nasty habit of destroying the evidence." As though they could hear his thoughts, the six Robo-forms removed their plastic masks to reveal golden death helmets, their jet-black optics focused onto their prey. "I think it's time I sorted this mess out."

The streets couldn't have been more tranquil as the shattered looking young man strolled into the middle of the street with that same subtle smile upon his face. Around him, the six Robo-forms drew their firearms from beneath their furry outfits and homed in upon the Doctor's face. From behind, the Jones family watched in anticipation as the Doctor remained carefree. In fact, he was becoming impatient: "What? You came all this way from wherever you were just to shoot me? Don't make me laugh," His smile vanished and like some omnipotent being, he hissed, "Your kind does not have thoughts of your own, you may be able to calculate and analyse various situations but nevertheless, you are not alive. So," He looked from one Pilot fish to the other, "Who is your leader?"

The almost mindless killers remained fixed in their position as though considering what the Doctor had said. Back in the decimated house, Martha felt her heart freeze; they could tear him into shreds if they needed to. And yet, they could have done that such a long time before…

Without warning, a shiny beacon of light came down from the heavens and struck the spot just in front of the Pilot Fishes. Within seconds, five more descended and as the Jones reared in the sudden bright light, six figures materialised. Stood in the middle was a middle-aged woman and around her were five human protectors, each armed with the same type of weapon as the Robo-forms. As the woman laid eyes upon the Doctor, she revealed a wide yet disturbing smile. "Doctor, after all these years, we finally found you."

To everyone's surprise, he merely returned the smile as though he had just been greeted by an old friend, "Ambassador Chance, I didn't expect to have the pleasure of seeing you here," He narrowed his eyes as he inspected her troops, each one were eager to cause him as much pain and agony as possible, "It must be important for you to come all the way from Terra, or should I say Barcelona?"

The ambassador's smile faded and from beneath, a snarled of pure hatred revealed itself, "Still the same, I see. I was sceptical when I first saw the analysis results but like I suspected, you are full of surprises." She glanced at the family hiding in the house and confidence returned to her stature, "You are a wanted man, Doctor; not just on Terra but the whole galaxy. We did a little research and found over ten thousand systems that would just love to cut you up nice and slowly and if I'm honest, I couldn't blame them." She gave him an almost hungry expression, as though he was a piece of choice meat that she couldn't wait to get her hands on, "Think of it, ten thousand systems, each with a fortune to offer. It's almost too good to be true. We did consider executing you ourselves at first for threatening the welfare of our people, but then we thought why not cash in at the mean time?"

"The welfare of your people?" The Doctor grimaced, "Your people never had the right to even set foot upon that planet. If there's anything that I regret, it's allowing you to be aware of my presence in the first place." He recalled how for the last few months, he had nursed the Tardis back into shape. How she suffered from the effects of the Paradox machine and how even managing a simple landing had become more of a crash landing.

"But that is your problem, Doctor. You might be able to travel through time, but you underestimated our patience. For every year you travelled into the future, we waited; we tracked the radiation left by your little box, it was a tedious process but now we finally found you." The ambassador gave her troops a small wave and on her command, they advanced towards the Doctor, who was forced to slowly retreat backwards.

Buying for time was all he could think of as the men came closer and from the look on their faces, live capture was the name of the game, like some big hunt in the jungle. "So I take it you became desperate enough to even hire Pilot Fish, then. You of all people should know how untrustworthy they could be."

"Hire?" The ambassador laughed with hint of disgust at her adversary's apparent lack of knowledge, "The Pilot Fish was one of my people's greatest inventions. Unlike ordinary people, they can be so much versatile and so much more determined. It was them that helped us locate our home planet in the first place and what do you know, they helped us locate you as well…"

The small battalion advanced and flanked the Doctor's position; there was no way out, even if he could fight his way out of the circle of death he would still only make a few yards before they drop him. From the corner of his vision, he saw the Pilot Fish focusing their attention on the Jones and the thought of loosing them because of him was unbearable. And yet the clock kept ticking. "So the Pilot Fish was your creation all along," He stated with no real intent as he fixed his gaze upon the house, "That includes their weaponry and assets, I assume." The ambassador gave him a knowing smile though more to herself as she basked in the magnificence of her species. "You see, I know that because the Robo-forms are just as vicious and heartless as you are, which explains why they are so keen to use Rubidian wild pines for their trump card." From deep in his pocket, the tiny shattered star began to crack and a second later, it crumpled into dust. "But you of all people should know that they are called wild pines for a reason…"

With no warning of any kind, the nightmare with spines burst forth from the window where the living room was located; its limbs were as long as ever and upon its imitated face, sheer rage vented from every pore. The former Christmas tree tackled the five guards with a ferocity that could only be matched by the one upon Ambassador Chance's face as her plan began to fall apart in front of her very eyes. In shock, the Pilot Fish fired their weapons in a vain hope of neutralising the beast but to no avail; in fact it only drew its attention as it recognised the faces of those who have tortured it for as long as it could remember.

Though the chaos only lasted a few minutes for that was how quickly Rubidian wild pines took to devour its prey, it was all the time the Doctor needed as he grabbed Martha and dragged her away from the horrible feeding frenzy and as the tree roared in triumph, he couldn't help but feel as though it was finally over. His instincts however, told him that the real challenge was only just ahead.


	13. Welcome Back

**Author's notes:** I've been waiting a long time to get this one down and if it doesn't make sense, then please tell me…

**Chapter 12: Welcome Back**

The rushing of crowds, the laughter of children and the chatter of people, all absent from the streets. As the Doctor and Martha sprinted from one end of the town to the other, they couldn't help but feel some how alienated in this strangely empty environment; not a single sign of life presented themselves as though suddenly wiped from the face of the planet and wandering around the plain and bare surface was the pair as they headed desperately towards their sanctuary. Neither knew what the has happened to Chance and her troops, perhaps the wild pine has long since picked their bones clean or perhaps some of them made it out. Either way, the only route that was available to the pair was ahead.

"Do you even know where you're going?" The same question raised from Martha's mind as she studied the Doctor's features, but found no obvious answer, only that there's no other option other than finding the Tardis. But then what? She closed her eyes and thought hard: even if they do manage to find the Tardis, would she be able to travel with him again? Would he even accept her anymore?

They turned a tight corner around the back of an abandoned factory and continued onwards, neither uttered a word but both could feel the tension, one that neither was prepared to face before. "There is a slight problem, Martha," The Doctor tried to smile but the weight of the trouble ahead caused him to falter somewhat, "Because its not quite been twenty four hours since I regenerated yet, it means not all of my memory has returned."

Martha stared at him in disbelief; after all that has happened, supposedly the wisest guy in the universe still had memory issues. "That's ridicules, how can you be so sure that your memory would return in _exactly_ twenty four hours?"

The Doctor gave a slight shrug; "Well actually its twenty three hours and forty three minutes but I reckon twenty four hours sounds more tense," Martha struggled against the urge to trip him up but only became more worried when he explained why it would be a problem, "Most of the more general things have returned, I even remember how time on Pluto is measured in now. But the one thing that I still can't quite remember is how to fly the Tardis."

Altogether, they burst into the factory itself and headed straight for the exit on the other side, as though it would save them a couple of minutes. "Ok, that's not too bad…" Martha muttered in uncertainty, "At least you remember where the Tardis is, all we have to do is get inside then you have all the time in the world to remember." The door of the exit was exceptionally heavy but after the third attempt, it creaked and half tore itself open from the hinges. The pair panted heavily as they came to a stop and saw the most precious thing they have ever laid eyes on: the Tardis, exactly where the Doctor left it the morning before and if there were any people on the streets then they would have betted anything that they would have simply ignored it like usual.

With confidence and joy returning into her heart, Martha headed straight for the doors but before she could even hold out her hand, the Doctor grabbed it and pulled her roughly away from the handles. "Don't touch it," He gave surrounding environment a quick glance, "Don't ask me why because I can't remember but for some reason I don't think we should be going inside before the twenty four hours is up." Martha stopped bothering to argue and as she gave the Tardis a thorough going over, she couldn't help but resist the strong impulse to rush inside.

"It doesn't look any different," She muttered as she studied the Police Box sign and the small windows. As far as she could tell it was the just the way she remembered it a year ago, even the various burn marks and faint scars looked familiar. "I really don't see what's wrong with it…" She stopped in mid-sentence as she came round the back in time to see the Doctor with his hands up and before him stood Ambassador Chance with a glowing weapon held firmly in her grasp. She was covered in scars, her robe was torn badly and upon her left cheek was a gash that made Martha wince.

"That was a cute trick with the pine, Doctor," Chance spoke through gritted teeth, as though she would consider biting him in the neck if she had the opportunity, "And you, human, get over here where I could see you." With no other options, Martha raised her own hands and stood next to the Doctor; she had no idea what the weapon might be capable of, but she wasn't going to let the ambassador give her demonstration. "You think you're so smart, don't you, Doctor? Your trick killed all of my men but I managed to finish that pathetic creature off and here we are." She examined the blue box before her, the same one that caused the problems in the first place, "The rest of the Galaxy would pay well for both the Doctor _and_ his ship. And don't think you can escape either, I have already signalled to my ship, any minute now and they will beam us on board and then it's game over."

Martha looked desperately from Chance to the Doctor, who showed neither fear nor the signs of a plan. At the obviously unimpressed impression upon her head prisoner's face, the ambassador narrowed her eyes, "Any last words, Doctor?"

He remained silent but constantly watching his adversary's behaviour; he had no real plan in mind except one single fixation: use the Tardis… "Ambassador," He began, "If I am not mistaken, those who are born into scavenger backgrounds would often cling onto anything they could get their hands on, am I correct?"

The ambassador looked uncomfortable upon the remark, as though the words had struck a nerve. "What's your point?"

"My point is that the ship behind me is the only one of its kind now in the universe," He leaned forward, causing Chance to focus her weapon on him, "Think about it: a 'one of a kind' time machine, possibly the most advanced piece of technology ever, and it's about to slip away from your grasp."

The statement made the ambassador rethink her position but could not understand what he meant. Confused, she made quick glances at the Tardis, all the while wondering how he would plan to stop her from acquiring his technology. "You have no means of stopping me, when my ship is here, we will take your time machine with us. So tell me, how could I possibly let it slip away?"

"Simple," The Doctor smiled faintly, "The Galactic Code of Conduct clearly states that any captured technology is to be confiscated by the authorities, with or without payment. That means while you might profit from my ship, you'll never actually get to keep it. And even if you try to hold on to it, the rest of the galaxy will inevitably find out and when they realise what you have taken, they will be willing to fight a war for it." His smile broadened at the ambassador's sudden expression of fear; fear that somehow her schemes might never actually work the way she wanted to. "And besides," The Doctor continued, "I understand that individually, your kind have a very strong sense of self brilliance. Look at it this way; this could be as close as you yourself will ever get to my ship, and wouldn't it be a shame if you could never find out how it works and more importantly, get credit for the endless possibilities you'll discover if only you had it to yourself…"

By this stage, the ambassador was sweating; everything the Doctor had said was true, her desire to capture the ship, to study from it, and to ultimately gain credit for it, it was all part of her ambition from the beginning. To her surprise, however, the Doctor gave her a genuine look, "But it doesn't have to be that way," He whispered like a parent who was calming a child, "I can offer you a peek, a chance to look inside yourself because trust me, you'll never get inside it without my help. And all I demand in return is for you to let Martha go and never return to this planet." He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out the key to the Tardis, its shiny surface seemed like a siren that called out to the ambassador, "All you have to do is slot it in and walk inside."

Ambassador Chance remained still, her eyes darted from the key to the Doctor, and she knows that she shouldn't accept this but the lure was too powerful. With a wave of her hand she signalled Martha to leave and with both her eyes and her weapon focused on the Doctor, she grabbed the keys away from him. Like a eager child, she backed up until she was next to the Tardis and ever so carefully, she inserted the key into the slot.

The flash of energy that resulted was intense enough to illuminate a thousand houses. Both Martha and the Doctor dropped to the ground and kept their heads covered; even the light itself seemed to burn away at their bodies as though they were in an oven with no protection. Next came a horrid wailing like the cries of hundreds of people all at once and as it faded away, so did the light. The Tardis remained where it was and in front of it, laid an unconscious Ambassador Chance; her skin glowed bright white as the residual energy tried to disperse and there was no sign of any struggle or illness. To any outsiders, she simply looked as though she was sleeping.

"What happened?" Martha rose and examined the woman, who almost seemed peaceful if not so disturbingly out of place. From behind her, the Doctor placed his hands in his pockets and silently counted to himself, as though he was playing a friendly game of hide and seek. "Doctor, what was that light?"

"…Ten, nine…self protection," He muttered, "…seven… that's why I told you not to touch it…five, four, three, two, one…" Like a sudden surge of torrential waves, energy from the Tardis itself burst into the Doctor's body. The golden shimmer skimmed through him from head to toe as the final stage of the regeneration took place. Like a million stars that orbited a central body, the Doctor became a bright shining light source as the sand like substance sand into various parts of his body by the dozens and within a s few seconds, they were gone. And stood before Martha was a Doctor full of life, he rubbed his hands together as he smiled uncontrollably at himself, Martha, the Tardis and then back to himself. "I'm alive!" Without warning, he rushed forward and embraced the Tardis, like an old couple who hasn't seen each other in years. "I knew the old girl wouldn't let me down. The Tardis knew that it wouldn't be safe to let anyone, even myself to get inside until twenty four hours is up, that's why she took our friend here to dream land." He patted the box's surface lovingly, "And once she wakes up, she wouldn't remember a thing."

Martha shook her head in confusion; it was all too much to take in at once, for in less than half a minute, the Doctor was transformed from a timid and seemingly ordinary individual back to his old self. Except it wasn't his old self, not quite… "So everything is normal now?" She ventured, "You remember everything and the Tardis works fine?"

"I'm good but the old girl might still take a while to fully recover from the Paradox machine, but otherwise we are fine." The Doctor beamed, as though everything he ever wanted was right there with him.

"So does that mean…" Martha considered; if he accepts her proposal, she might never have to leave him again. But at the cost of abandoning her normal life forever, "…does that mean I can come with you again?" The Doctor's smile faded, as though it was the toughest question he had ever faced.

"It would be just as dangerous as ever," Martha nodded, "If not more dangerous now that half the galaxy is after us," Again she nodded, almost impatient now that she has completely ridded the thoughts of staying on Earth for the rest of her life. "…Then of course you can come with me."

The endless tears that streamed from her eyes, the everlasting joy within her heart, all of it poured out at once. And as they stood within the Tardis, with their arms around each other, it seemed as though nothing in the whole of creation could stop them now. Nothing…


	14. Epilogue

**Author's notes:** It's been a long journey but at last, we've come to the end. If I ever get the chance again, I would like to write a sequel, a continuation for a new Doctor who I consider is worthy of a second appearance. Thank you all for supporting me to the end.

**Epilogue **

The hallway stretched for miles. Even though he had been in here more times than he could count, the Count still couldn't quite shake the feeling that the deity of the devil itself seemed to lurk from within the shadows of this dark and eerie environment.

From either side came the cries of a thousand worlds, each he knew would soon be silenced. As the flames in the lamps flickered, he could feel his own life force flickering away with it as he came closer and closer to the throne. Upon it, he suspected, would be an abomination so vile that even the Lord himself would tremble with fear should he know that such an individual ever existed. Such was the way of the Count; he has seen and endured terrors that would kill a normal man and it was for this very reason that he was in this position now; wondering every single day of his life whether if he would make it to the next.

"My Lord," He bowed and knelt in the face of darkness, the very bane of his existence, "The one known as Chance has failed you, the package has escaped and we cannot regain the signal." From above, he could feel the penetrating glare sinking into his flesh, like a laser only much more intense, "Please forgive me, my master, I will not make the same mistake again."

But it was too late. When the task was first issued, the Count was told specifically that he had one chance only to get this right. But he didn't. And as the metallic whirl reached his ears, he knew that his time in this universe would soon reach an end.

"The Doctor must not reach his sanctuary," The harsh, in human voice echoed from one end of the hall to the other, like thunder it shook the innards of the Count's skull. "If we cannot capture him then we must implement the Second Plan."

"What is that, my Lord?" The Count allowed his curiosity to show but could already guess the answer, for it was the answer to virtually all problems.

"Extermination!"


End file.
